Have been reading a piece on Carlo Ponti...he died recently. Seems he was the first Italian to order a copy of Dr Zhivago...now that's a claim to fame if ever there was one.

My top of the pops one in my personal list...when Neil Armstrong & Co were in Sydney all those years ago....saw the open-topped the car go past.....now remember I was all of 19 or 20...keen as mustard!

raced to the hotel...saw the red carpet...velvet cord on either side...the days of no security....there I was....'n there they were...walking from the street...and before I knew it, I'd ducked under the cord...raced down and shook Neil Armstrong's hand...in a flash...a nanosecond...

a bit naughty I know...and if it happened today...well it wouldn't..because there's no way I'd be able to get anywhere near them...

Margot Fonteyn patted me on my head when I was a little girl...

ok...famers...let's go! don't hold back...this is for total fun.. _________________"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

Since I work in the airport the chance of meeting famous people is there. But I never do, or well, maybe I do, but I never recognize them!
You could put the entire dutch footballteam (soccer I mean) in front of me and I wouldn't have a clue.
But...I did meet our crownprince once, and checked in actor Jeroen Krabbé (you might know him from movies as left luggage, discovery of heaven and a James Bond movie as well), I have checked in the entire Kelly Family. Didn't recognize them, was wondering about all those last names (their name really is Kelly but I finally understood when one of them was doing ballety things at my desk ),

And recently, I didn't meet them, but we had a lot of fun when we had on the same flight to milan, all in businessclass (and oh, how I wanted to reseat them next to eachother!! But I behaved well...) Prince (the singer), Paris Hilton, and cardinal Simonis, one of the most famous and highest people in church in Holland...

I did meet, very briefly, Mrs Madeline Allbright, a very impressive lady. I talked to her assistant (had to get a bag back from the belly of the plane that she mistakingly checked in and mrs Albright needed those papers during the flight...she was so relieved when we found it! So she hugged me, does that count?!)

then there are the wonderful singers of acapella group 'the Nylons', (they were in 'my'bar!!!), some dutch soap-actors, and oh, yes, ofcourse: Gordon Ramsey!! I had lunch in his restaurant in Londen and he was there, didn't shake his hand, but hey, he was there...

Joined: 29 Sep 2004Posts: 1196Location: buried under a pile of books somewhere in Adelaide, South Australia

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:28 pm Post subject:

One of my friends and her sister danced on stage with Dame Margot here in Adelaide about 30 years ago when they were little girls. And neither of them dances now. That must have been a huge thrill for a young ballerina.

Greg and I recently travelled business class and sat just across from former Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, and his wife.

Years ago my parents were travelling to the US via Honolulu and were in First Class with Joe Cocker and some of his band (the rest were in economy). It happened that my Mum's closest friend was the Flight Director on the plane, and she took a Qantas menu around all the band members and got them to sign it for me. I still have it .... somewhere.

One of my friends' grandsons was one of the original 15 kids trained by Jamie Oliver, even though he wasn't English or underprivileged. We watched the TV show every week to see Johnny, but he wasn't on the show much, although he did manage to cut his hand quite badly during the dress rehersal for the restaurant opening and had to go to hospital to get stitches. He's now working as a chef at a hunting lodge in Canada._________________Doing what you like is freedom
Liking what you do is happiness

I sang on stage with Peter Yarrow at a conference for educators! We sang "Don't Laugh at Me", a song about respecting others, and "Puff the Magic Dragon" - which he swears is about leaving childhood behind! He is a pretty amazing fellow! _________________L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais

I sang for the Queen (the real one, not Helen Mirren ) two years ago but I have to admit that it was as part of my choir - for a concert to commemorate the 60th anniversary fo VE Day - not solo! (And yes, Prince Philip did nod off during the concert.) However, infinitely cooler than that was the time five years ago when I was having lunch with a friend in the UCL Union and who should walk in and sit down a few tables away but Brian May! I was mystified for ages as to what the ex-guitarist of Queen was doing having lunch with a bunch of academics but later found out that he's quite the respected astronomer...

And on a slightly more fanciful note, when I lived in Paris I lived just down the street from the epicerie whose owner Amelie played nasty tricks on. I only found out two years after that that I had been living not only in Amelie-land, but in Clotilde-land - and I didn't know about her or C&Z! Ah well...

Well, as long as we're speaking of Queens, I had dinner in a Thai resto in NYC sitting right next to Helen Mirren! I managed to control my admiration and left her alone! I did have trouble concentrating on the Pad Thai, however! _________________L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais

Let's see:
Madame Shawshank -that's real fame!
George Benson and he gave me free tickets for his concert.
Prince Edward because we thought we were in the queu at the drinks bar.
Bill Clinton and I regret to this day I didn't reach up and kiss him on the cheek rather than shake his hand._________________Barbara

When I was a teenager, I was nuts about old movies and musicals. I waited outside the stage door when Joel Grey was in town doing a play and gave him a drawing I had done of him. He said it was a good image. I also wrote to James Cagney and got a very nice reply. Both big deals to me at the time. Sadly, nobody famous since.

A looong time ago, when he was the hottest hottie around (don't laugh)--
Fabian. (Anybody remember him?) A family friend was a record distributor (no, not CDs) in our city and Fabulous Fabian was promoting a new album. I was probably 15, he was 17 or so. Got to ride to the airport with him in friend's Jaguar, then parade through the airport next to him. Many envious stares from the other girls. I just remember that he was gorgeous, wearing a silk suit and suede shoes. I was barely able to speak, let alone make him fall in love with me (which was the plan).

More recently, many chefs of renown, thanks to a job in a culinary store/school. Most interesting lesson I learned was that the most famous are the nicest. It's the middle tier who have swollen heads.

My younger daughter encountered Bill Clinton some years ago on a flight from SFO to NY (or vice versa). One of his secret service guys asked her if she'd like to meet him. Duh. Anyway, she said that in that packed airplane, he had the ability to make her feel she was the only other person there--and the absolute only person he wanted to be talking to.

Well, to be fair, I live in Los Angeles so you could be in line for a movie and XXXXX or YYYYYYYY turns around and says "would you mind not bumping into me with your purse". So I'm limiting it to people I have had relationships with. My favorite is Gretchen Corbett who was Jim Rockford's attorney on The Rockford Files.

Her daughter went to the same elementary school as my girls and when I first recognized her she was very wary of another star struck fan. Really stand offish. As it turned out, we were the only ones in the same neighborhood 10 miles away from the school so we became a carpool and good friends. She's a lovely lady and her daughter is what we all wish our kids would turn out to be. Kind, brilliant, poised, creative and gorgeous. We raised our kids together. Real moms in the urban jungle.

But my other favorite (everyone please put down your cups and swallow any liquid) is Paul Fleiss (daddy to Heidi Fleiss) (if you're not in the US just google her) was my kids' pediatrician. He's a kind man and I still remember the morning I read the breaking story that he said he always believed that she was making millions of dollars every year as a high school drop-out real estate agent. Sooooo completely trusting. So Paul Fleiss! So LA._________________God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

I shook hands with John Kennedy when he was running for president. He spoke in a shopping center parking lot and later was sitting on the back of a convertible. I edged closer and closer through the crowd, and as I came within reaching distance behind him, I was sure he would soon turn around in my direction. When he did, I was ready with an outstretched hand and got the handshake. Of course, such a maneuver would not be possible today.

May I present a once-removed claim to fame? My daughter-in-law, a musician, was recently in the orchestra that performed Sir Paul McCartney's new work. She took along an album cover "just in case" and received not only his autograph but a kiss on the cheek!